Confucius' Social Wisdom

by Pavan Choudary

Confucius was a sage and social philosopher of China whose teachings have deeply influenced East Asia, including China, Korea, and Japan for two thousand five hundred years. He talked of duty, he talked of action and not just idle action, but wise action…that leads to a happy populace and restores social order.
How should a person behave – as the unit of a family, a society member and as a ruler?
How social relationships can be brought in harmony?
Why some societies succeeded while the others failed?
What can India learn from successful and prosperous societies?
The reading is aimed at opening your window to harmonious relationships.

100 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2010

About the author

Professional background:
Since 1998, Pavan Choudary is the CEO and Managing Director of Vygon India Pvt. Ltd., a leading French Multinational in Healthcare.
Prior to this, he held senior positions in Marketing and Advertising at large Indian and Foreign MNCs and has authored The Rx Factor, a seminal work on healthcare marketing and strategy.
He Chairs the Medical Technology Association of India, is a Trustee with the Lal Bahadur National Memorial Trust, an Independent Director with Transasia Bio Medicals ltd and sits on the Advisory board of Executive Access Pvt Ltd.

Contributions in the Socio-Political Space:
Over the past three decades, through intense study, he has also acquired deep knowledge of two socio-political areas.
1. Helping the ethical man/ ethical organization acquire competitive advantage and How Ethics, Effectiveness and Power can co-exist.
His research in this area:
· Has given birth to books like, the best-selling- How a Good person can really win (Earlier version-When You are sinking become a Submarine) - recipient of the prestigious Eric Hoffer Award, Book Excellence Award and The Readers’ Favorite Award (finalist).
· Has won him critical acclaim( ‘Intellectual Icon of the Year Award’, ‘Business Excellence Award’ , ‘Global Leadership Award’) and has got him the opportunity to train many senior professionals across the world and to speak at leading institutes viz. the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad, IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management at Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Kozhikode), Sydney Technical University, Singapore Management University and other prestigious institutes in India and abroad.
He is a keen student of Wisdom & Power and his study has made him deep dive in to the theatre of war & competition among communities and nations. It has given birth to books like Machiavelli for Moral people and Chanakya’s Political Wisdom. This field continues to fascinate him and as an off shoot of this interest, he has also advised several CEOs, Sport Stars and people in public life on Personal and Career Strategy & have played some role in making principled people win.
2. The other area in which he has considerable experience and where he is at the same time looking for answers is how self-centred, acutely stratified, tradition obsessed, feudal societies can change in to more socially enlightened, egalitarian, scientific tempered and disciplined communities.
His learning in this area is drawn from the body of research which he assimilated for his TV show, Hum Aisey Kyun Hain (Why are we like that?). more than 70 episodes of which have been already telecast nationally by Doordarshan National. The episodes can be viewed on IdeasInfinite. This show helped him explore questions like why some communities are self-seeking, corrupt, in-disciplined, hypocritical etc. He delved in to these issues with experts drawn from Sociology, Psychology, Management, Education, Media, Police and Administration.

He has also written columns for The Times of India, “Mera Gaon Mera Desh” and Financial Chronicle, “Sacred Bull” on topics arising from the above two areas. Currently he write mainly for firstpost.com. For his latest articles visit Blog | Pavan Choudary and Pavan Choudary (@WriterPavan) | Twitter

Apart from this, Pavan has also co-authored three books with Magsaysay Awardee, Kiran Bedi – Broom & Groom 2010- (A book on Hygiene and Manners), Swachh Bharat Checklist 2015 & Uprising 2011- Indians Against Corruption and one book with Congress leader and Ex Finance Minister, Government of India, Anil Shastri, Lal Bahadur Shastri - Lessons in Leadership which was released by the Dalai Lama in Delhi.

For more please visit his website www.pavanchoudary.in

Reviews

[Ivana - Diary of Difference · Rating 1 out of 5]

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Well, well, well… Another 1-star. The first one for 2020. And it had to be a philosophy book.

I remember reading another book by Pavan Choudary and it was called How A Good Person Can Really Win. I remember disliking this book as well, because it was a bit dodgy and click-baity. But together with that one, I also received this book – Confucius’s Social Wisdom.

My history with Confucius

Philosophy and I found our way to each other when I was in high school. Our professor was quite different than any other professors I had, but he taught me a lot of world and moral lessons. Even today, I still remember his lessons now, when I am on a life crossroad and wonder what he would say. I discovered Confucius’s work during those years and it was a huge revelation for me to learn about other culture’s ethics and moral rules and explanations.

I always love sharing opinions and beliefs and Confucius’s works showed me another side of the world that I never thought of. Love others while you exercise self-discipline. How can it be done, and how I can implement this in my life. His works always triggered more questions than answers. And that was the beauty of it.

Why I don’t like this book

I will be completely honest with you. I appreciate everyone’s work and I know that a lot of time and effort has been put into this work. However, I will not praise nor endorse any book that is published and sells on behalf of someone else’s work. And this is what has happened here.

The author has taken the most famous quotes from Confucius and then elaborated them into what he believes they might mean, advising the reader what they should do. I cannot see any wisdom in this book whatsoever. You can get the same information by just grabbing a copy of the original works of Confucius.

I would not recommend this book to anyone. If anything, I would recommend you to avoid it. Stick to the original works of Confucius and form your own conclusions on the meaning behind the words.

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[Diane in Australia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pavan takes quotes from Confucius, and explains them in simple, down-to-earth terms. As the title implies, all the quotes are about social situations. I felt he did a nice job, such as it is. For me, it was just a bit of light reading to pass the time.

If you struggle to understand Confucius, you might find a use for this book.

3 Stars = I liked the book. I enjoyed it. I'm glad I read it.

[MissBecka Gee · Rating 2 out of 5]

***********FREE FROM GIVEAWAY***********
Being fairly unfamiliar with Confucianism I found this rather interesting (though slightly condescending).

[Ruchi Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice and interesting. I finished in just one sitting. Till now i have read many books regarding personal development and self help but i have come across very first book on social development and skills. I have first time came across the word confucius and nicely explained in the books. Nice one

[Michelle Olms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[ANTONY · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wide-ranging and thought provoking book at our social skill as an essential tool for social wisdom.
Vivekacharya Pavan Choudary , Wisdom guru has crafted this unique Trilogy of Wisdom with commentary on Confucius Social Wisdom.In the 72 pages pearls of wisdom are sprinkled and they would make an impact on your persepecive w r to social life.

I recommend this book to all as it carries beautiful quotes that help us to live with peace and success.